Grommet (sportsperson)

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Young grommet on a board with his dad watching. Father and son surf lesson in Morro Bay, CA 11 of 12.jpg
Young grommet on a board with his dad watching.

A grommet (grom, or gremmie) is a young participant in extreme sports. Originally, a grommet was a surfer under the age of 16. In recent years, this has expanded to include other extreme sports, most notably skiing, skateboarding, roller derby and snowboarding. [1]

Etymology

The first contextual use of the word appears in a 1964 article by the journalist, Nicholas Tomalin, who on a visit to Newquay in Cornwall noted that: "A surfer who is no good or just beginning is a 'gremmie'." [2]

The word "Gremmie", which was used in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s, was derived from the word "Gremlin". [3]

The term "grommet" was used in Lockie Leonard, Legend by Tim Winton in 1997: "Things are never as simple as they seem, not even for grommets". This earliest citation was a few years after the creation of the Wallace and Gromit animated films.

The word was originally a term for an inexperienced surfer, but has become an accepted term for all young participants. For example, the British Surfing Association offers a Grommet Surf Club for young surfers.[ citation needed ]

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References

  1. Definition of grommet on About.com. Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Sun, surf and sexuality – it's a whole new cult" . The Times . August 16, 1964.
  3. TransWorld SURF (2006-05-06). "5/9/06 Kew's Corner: The Definition of 'Grommet'". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.